This application contains some common subject matter that was disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 06/644,462, filed August 27, 1984 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,769 and entitled "Doll Hair Maker and Method of Use".
The present invention employs the same basic method and apparatus disclosed in the above identified co-pending application; however, each variety of artificial flower requires subtle variations in the basic method to produce the desired diverse end products. (i.e. different species of flowers).
While methods and apparatus for fabricating artificial flowers are well represented in the prior art; as can be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 154,781; 3,525,660; 1,415,764; 1,991,602; 2,211,487; and, 2,337,099; none of these references employ a flexible, flat, elongated length of cloth or fabric ribbon material as the individual flower petal component.
The only known prior art patents that specifically employ cloth or fabric ribbon material as a basic component in their artificial flower constructions are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,030,719; 1,766,351;and, 1,568,859.
The Patterson reference, U.S. Pat. No. 1,766,351 specifically teaches the cutting of individual lengths of material and then assembling and joining the individual lengths of material into a flower like configuration.
The Rosas reference, U.S. Pat. No. 1,568,859 teaches the use of a reinforced edge ribbon construction, wherein the stiffened ribbon segments are distorted and then assembled in a stacked relationship to produce a desired artificial flower configuration.
The Enomoto reference, U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,719 teaches the zig-zag stitching along the longitudinal axis of a length of ribbon, followed by a draw string type gathering of the ribbon material to produce folded petal segments in the assembly of a finished artificial flower construction.
While all of the aforementioned ribboned artificial flower methods of construction, and end products produced thereby, are adequate for their intended purpose and function; they are woefully deficient in the number and complexity of the steps involved in the fabrication of a given artificial flower, and extremely limited with respect to the number of different flower varieties that can be created by following any given previously patented method that specifically employs ribboned material.
Considering the expense of commercially available artificial flowers, which is due in large part to the time consuming and labor intensive methods used to produce the finished product, as well as the cost of the raw materials currently employed, an attempt was undertaken to develop a new and unique method of fabricating artificial flowers.
Another object of the present invention was the development of a basic method and procedure for creating artificial flowers; wherein, minor variations in the basic procedure would produce drastically different end products representative of different varieties of flowers.
Yet another object of this invention was to develop a method for creating artificial flowers that: would not only lend itself to mass production techniques to lower the cost of the end products produced thereby; but, which would also employ less expensive and commonly available raw materials that would further lower the cost of the finished products.
A still further object of the present invention was to develop a method of producing different artificial flowers using the same basic equipment and certain basic steps; whereby, anyone following the teachings and instructions contained in this specification would be able to reproduce the various end products described herein for their own personal use or for commercial sales purposes.
Still another object of this invention was to develop a method of producing different ribboned artificial flowers; whereby, equally attractive results would be achieved regardless of whether the less expensive craft ribbon or the more expensive woven edge ribbon material was employed in the inventive procedure.